In its first major update since 2009, Microsoft has releases a new version of the Server Operating System and the direction is firmly towards more cloud computing. There are four flavors of the server; Datacenter, Standard, Essentials and Foundation. With these, companies will be able to implant everything from email servers to Microsoft Azure and Server Virtualization. Essentials, the one tuned for Small Business and Home Office uses will be available later towards the end of 2012, while Foundation version will be pre-installed on purchased hardware. The difference between Datacenter and Standard is that the former can be used for server virtualization and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. Satya Nadella, president of Redmond’s Servers and Tools Business, is calling the new Windows Server 2012 as the company’s first “cloud OS.”

There were some impressive server stats from Microsoft webcasts. Windows Server 2012 can access 4TB of physical memory with 64 virtual processors for each virtual machine plus each machine can access upto 1TB memory while in Hyper-V. IIS Internet Information Services 8 is also included had has many new features. Windows Server 2012 is avaible as a download from Microsoft. The pricelist is as follows; Datacenter is $4,809, Standard $882 and Essentials edition which is $501. The amount for other currencies and regions are yet to be confirmed.